Arctic Ocean

Scientists have known for a while that the Arctic is melting. The signs are everywhere—from the famed Alaskan Iditarod course being moved multiple times due to lack of snow, to the emergence of starving polar bears with nowhere to hunt.

But while scientists are certain that the Arctic is melting at an alarming rate, they aren’t really sure why.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Dec. 20 designated the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing.

The move helps put some finishing touches on Obama's environmental legacy while also testing President-elect Donald Trump's promise to unleash the nation's untapped energy reserves.

Polar bear numbers could drop a third by mid-century, according to the first systematic assessment, released Dec. 7, of how dwindling Arctic sea ice affects the world's largest bear.

Russian ships docked at what was once a secret Norwegian naval base in the Arctic have prompted concern from the NATO country's former top military leaders, anxious about its resurgent eastern neighbour roaming nearby.

At least 35,000 walruses have beached themselves on a remote Alaskan coastline in a phenomenon blamed on the melting of arctic ice due to climate change, experts said Oct. 1.